Crews working to contain wildfire a mile from Mescalero

June 9, 2018

MESCALERO, N.M. (AP) — Ground crews backed by fire engines and helicopters are clearing containment lines around a wildfire to keep it away from homes, a school and power lines in the town of Mescalero on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southern New Mexico.

The fire has burned 2 square miles (5 sq. kilometers) of pine forest on tribal land a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Mescalero with containment lines around 5 percent of the perimeter.

A top-tier incident management team that assumed command Saturday said there was minimal growth of the fire overnight and that a previous, larger size estimate was reduced after more accurate mapping.

No structures have been destroyed but officials said 100 homes were under evacuation orders.